And so another begins. Or, here's to 2008.

Wonderful and terrible,

beautiful and hideous,
simple and complicated.

It was all that life is made of, however much we wish it wasn't.

Yet, it is within my power to look past the terrible, hideous, and complicated, and to focus on the wonderful, beautiful, and simple. Because they were most definitely there. Perhaps more subtle and less volcanic than the others, but they were there just the same. Their mere presence in the face of the overwhelming negatives is, for me, a sure sign of the mercy of God. So I am made thankful.